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A trip back in time, down the Murray

The Murray Darling Basin Plan has to work within a highly regulated river system in its pursuit of improving river health, but what do we know about the origins of the locks and weirs that have so tamed the rivers?

The Mildura office of Goulburn Murray Water contains a number of archives which hark back to the period when the lock was being built.

"They're all mixed up," says Roley, who's responsible for the operation and maintenance of the Mildura Weir and Lock 11 - one of several key regulators of the Murray Darling river system.

Opening up an old photo album, he finds an old, typed document.

"This is a resume from the chief engineer," says Roley, "he was applying for another job in 1938."

Although these archives are fairly accessible to anyone looking for them, not a lot has been done on the history of this time.

"There isn't a great deal on record about this period," says Helen Stagg - who recently completed a Masters in oral history on the topic.

"Of course you have to do a literature review, and there's precious little out there to review."

Ms Stagg's own ancestry is tied up with the history that surrounds the construction of Murray River regulators, with her mother growing up at several lock construction sites.

Her work has led her to interview surviving members of these communities, like Max Pearson, who was born during the contruction of Lock 1 at Blanchetown.

"It took four years approximately to build a weir and a lock," says Mr Pearson, "and when that four years was up, all the houses were pulled down and carted to the river bank, put on the barges; and the paddlesteamers then would tow it to where the next lock was to be built."

Mr Pearson says he is the youngest surviving employee to ever have worked in the construction of the regulators on the Murray - starting at 15 with carpenters on the Goolwa barrage.

"My first 16 years of life was spent on the banks of the river Murray," he says.

Ms Stagg also interviewed Marge Francis, who was born on Lock 9 in 1924, where her father worked as a static engine driver.

Ms Francis' story correlates with Mr Pearson's.

"Wherever the men went, they had to build their own homes, because only the bosses had homes supplied for them," says Ms Francis.

"We were lucky, I suppose, my father had a 1924 Chev, so of course the house was on top of the car as we moved."

So what was life like in these communities?

Mr Pearson says the education was limited to primary level, with over a hundred children in the school, with one teacher, but he says his memories of life along the river were positive.

"We played cricket, we played football...used to play a lot of marbles, and generally we would do what children in other areas would be doing," he says.

Ms Stagg says the social life of the lock communities was very rich, with the school doubling as the dance hall or picture theatre.

"They had at least a weekly dance," she says.

"Films would come in on the mail truck and one of the local men would put on the film - he had the skills to run the projector."

Ms Francis says that the communities were essentially brought together because of economics.

"Like everything else, you go where the work is," she says.

"When you look back on it, it was an experience of its own."

This experience is one that Max Pearson wants to hold onto as long as he can.

"To care and to share with other people, that was the only way we were able to keep our existence going," he says.

"We have made it a part of our lives to go back to these areas and try to relive the type of towns that they were."